chapter 10

~reno~

       The moment the six of us walk into the escape room building, I start to regret ever agreeing to join in. Don't get me wrong, I love escape rooms, but like the rest of the town, there's something off in the escape room.

       For starters, there's literally no one in the building. And I'm not talking about people waiting to take part in the escape room. There isn't anyone at the front desk to let us take part in the escape room.

       The lights have been flickering on and off as if the lobby itself was set up to be the escape room, boosting the uneasy feeling I'm having. Maybe the six of us should find something else to pass time instead of participating in something that is very creepy.

       I'm not the only one that feels on edge. "Maybe we should leave and find something to do..." Nolan says, holding tightly onto Jerome's hand.

       "Wasn't this your idea?" Jerome asks.

       "Yes, but that's because I thought it would be fun," Nolan says. "I didn't think it would have such a creepy vibe just from being in the lobby. Besides, no one's at the counter so..."

       Jamie takes the opportunity to walk over to the counter, leaning over it as if he figured someone could be hiding behind it. "Hello?" he calls out. "Is anyone there?"

       "Jamie, I don't think anyone is hiding behind the counter," Sawyer says. "Maybe they're just in the staff room or resetting one of the escape rooms."

       Jamie notices a bell on the counter, so he presses it to ring it. Except he doesn't just ring it once. He rings it over and over again until an old man walks out of the room beside the counter. He sighs heavily. "How may I be of an assistance?"

       "You don't have to sigh at me," Jamie says.

       Sawyer pulls Jamie away from the counter so he can't bug the worker anymore. "The six of us would like to do an escape room," Sawyer says.

       "Fine," the worker says, sounding a bit annoyed. "What mode would you like to do? Easy, advanced, or expert?"

       We don't know which one we want, so we take some time to figure it out, which only makes the worker even more annoyed. Eventually, to not annoy him even more, I make the decision for everyone and say, "Advanced." That has to be the best option, right? Not too difficult for those who want it easy, but not too easy for those who want it difficult.

       "Follow me, then," the worker says. He leads us to one of the rooms, opening the door for us. "You have two hours." The moment the six of us are in the room, he slams the door behind him.

       "Okay, was it just me, or was he unnecessarily grumpy?" Jamie asks.

       "Maybe he just had a bad day," Weisz says.

       "He looked familiar to me," Jerome says.

       "You think everyone looks familiar to you," Nolan points out. "You once said Alan, my triplet brother, looks familiar."

       "I said that as a joke," Jerome says. "But I'm serious about that old man. He looked... Way too familiar. But I can't place where he's from." He shakes his head. "Forget it. It will come to me when it does. In the meantime, we should focus on the escape room."

       I finally decide to take a look around the room to see what we're going to have to deal with. The theme of this room is an underground bunker, which doesn't seem as creepy, but it doesn't help that like in the lobby, the lights are flickering in here.

       A big digital clock hangs above the door, counting the time we have left to solve the puzzle. Like the man said, we've got two hours. I think we can do it.

       Jerome looks at Nolan. "You doing okay?"

       Nolan nods. "Yeah. The room isn't too small, so I should be fine. I just wish that he didn't shut the door on us so quickly."

       Jamie beings to look around the room for our first clue. "Like I said, he was unnecessarily grumpy. And before anyone blames it on me ringing the bell, I wouldn't have had to ring it if he wasn't hanging out in the back."

       "Alright, Jamie, you don't have to bring that up," Sawyer says. "Like Weisz says, maybe he's just having a bad day. Now can you tell me why you're on the phone?"

       "Well, I was hoping this phone was a working one and not something for decoration," Jamie says. "I always wanted to use one of these cool old-time phones." He sighs. "It's not a working one. It just keeps making beeping sounds."

       Sawyer walks over and takes the phone from Jamie, holding it up to his ear. "I could be wrong, but this sounds like morse code."

       "Does anyone know morse code?" Jamie asks. "Because I don't. I tried learning it, but I gave up because it was too much work for me. And because it reminded me of math, and I hate math."

       I furrow my eyebrows. "How does morse code remind you of math?"

       "I don't know. Leave me alone."

       Jerome leads Nolan over to the phone before he takes it from Sawyer. He hold the phone up so both him and Nolan can hear it. "C... A... B... S?" He looks at Nolan. "Is that right?"

       "C A N five," Nolan says.

       "Can five? What does that mean?"

       "Maybe it's saying we can only win if there's five of us," Jamie says. "So we have to sacrifice one of us."

       "Great, let's sacrifice Jamie," Sawyer says. "All in favour?"

       Jerome, Weisz, and I raise our hands as Jamie scowls. Nolan, on the other hand, says, "I don't think that's what it's trying to tell us." He points across the room to where a shelf filled with cans of tomato soup are stacked. "Soup cans."

       "Yeah, that makes more sense," Jamie says. "Thanks for saving my life, Nolan."

       "Uh... You're welcome?"

       I walk over to the self and pick up one of the cans. I examine it before finding a number labelled on the bottom. "This one has the number thirty-seven on it. Maybe we just have to find the one with five on it."

       "If that's the case, this escape room is easy," Jamie says. "We should be finished in no time."

       "Don't jinx it," I say.

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spoilers: he jinxed it

honestly i never know where my halloween books end up going. i have one idea for it and just write the most random stuff lol. most of the time, i just use it as an excuse for crossovers tbh.